Mission

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The Houston Public Library Foundation focuses on increasing the Houston community's awareness of the vital role our public libraries play in Houston's quality of life. We support the Houston Public Library through fundraising, advocacy and program support and unite partners who value lifelong learning. We value operating with greater cross-cultural understanding and believe the diversity of our community is one of Houston's significant strengths.

Mission

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The Houston Public Library Foundation focuses on increasing the Houston community's awareness of the vital role our public libraries play in Houston's quality of life. We support the Houston Public Library through fundraising, advocacy and program support and unite partners who value lifelong learning. We value operating with greater cross-cultural understanding and believe the diversity of our community is one of Houston's significant strengths.

Impact Information

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Impact Information

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GuideStar has recognized this organization with a Gold Seal of Transparency for voluntarily and publicly describing
their goals, strategies, and accomplishments.
Learn More about Impact Information.

Charting Impact

What is your organization aiming to accomplish?

Your Houston Public Library system links people to the world through educational, recreational, and cultural programs for persons of all ages, ethnicity, and life stages. These essential programs exist through the generosity of individuals, foundations, organizations, and businesses who share our collective belief in the transformational power of lifelong learning. The Library positively affects over 2,000,000 people every year. The Houston Public Library Foundation and Friends of HPL share a common purpose to advocate for literacy and lifelong learning while financially supporting the Library's community programs. We aim to offer digital resources and WiFi to all library patrons, allow youth the homework help and tutoring needed to succeed, to help Houstonians find well-paying jobs, and to preserve the past through three special collections. This work is guided by the following: Mission Statement: Through advocacy and fundraising, the Houston Public Library Foundation supports the Houston Public Library's wide range of initiatives with particular emphasis on its neighborhood libraries and their community programs. Vision Statement: Provide the funding and partnership resources for HPL to lead the nation in library services. Core Competencies: Accountability, Responsibility, Transparency

What are your strategies for making this happen?

The following goals support HPL Foundation/Friends of HPL operations that ultimately benefit the Houston Public Library system through increased fundraising and advocacy. Update HPLF's nonprofit business model to minimize risks and maximize business opportunities. • Acknowledge the past to prioritize the present • Maximize existing resources • Remove duplication of effort (create collaborative mindset) • Document processes and update policies • Clear database of obsolete records • Integrate the mission, vision, and core values into all materials and platforms Increase awareness and community support • Establish key messages and branding that creates an overarching campaign theme • Empower advocates to share key messages • Feature individuals/supporters' success stories • Create events that cultivate the community • Collaborate with HPL to determine synergistic events Build strong relationships • Create guidelines and seek relationships with a mission match • Find opportunities to support COH and HPL • Offer workshops and cultivation events • Ask for collaborative ways to support ongoing activities and events • Establish ways of work to appreciate partners and donors Raise funds for financial independence and programmatic support • Expand into board networks, YPG organizations, etc. • Identify revenue pipeline, fix leaks, and maximize potential • Diversify revenue pipeline to add new donors/ways to donate • Strengthen relationships with legacy families • Align events to the organizational mission and vision Collaborative Conversations • Attend HPL meetings to align with marketing, program, outreach and civic priorities and annual goals, project through 2020 • Work with HPL to capture program outcomes, success stories, program goals, and processes • Support FHPL's goals and provide assistance in growing their initiatives through social media and community networks.

What are your organization's capabilities for doing this?

The Houston Public Library Foundation is in a position of dynamic growth. Through efforts including establishing business excellence, connecting with the community, driving awareness of the Houston Public Library and building strong relationships, we will be able to achieve and surpass our goals. Our staff bring core strengths to lead this work: Executive Director - International business acumen in for-profit and nonprofit ventures. Marketing & Events Director - Successful public awareness campaigns and well-executed events. Philanthropy Coordinator - Database mastery and nonprofit organizational expertise Our volunteers are committed to the mission and lend their experience in: Nonprofit board leadership Financial oversight Fundraising Organizational management Communications Public affairs Government affairs

How will your organization know if you are making progress?

HPL Foundation measures progress with empirical and qualitative measurements. Improved database accuracy and utilization - Ensure constituent records in the database are complete and viable. Increased public support - Donations continue to increase and are being tracked against monetary goals. Increased public engagement - Increased attendance at HPL Foundation and Friends of HPL events. Improved partnerships - Increase the promotion of current partnerships and add new partnerships with corporate and nonprofit entities to maximize visibility. Outcome measurements - Design outcome measurement models for HPL planning and program evaluation.

What have and haven't you accomplished so far?

Improved database accuracy and utilization - Only 20% of the current records in the database are complete and viable constituents. Clean up will continue to mark inactive records by the end of this fiscal year. Increased public support - Donations continue to increase and are being tracked against monetary goals. FY 17 is on target to achieve revenue goals. Increased public engagement - Increased attendance at HPL Foundation and Friends of HPL events. Event attendance has increase throughout FY 17 and additional events/activities are planned for FY 18 to continue this trend. Improved partnerships - Increase the promotion of current partnerships and add new partnerships with corporate and nonprofit entities to maximize visibility. New partnerships highlight the viability and vitality of library programs. Outcome measurements - Design outcome measurement models for HPL planning and program evaluation. This process is underway and will begin in earnest in FY 18.

GuideStar's Gold Seal of Transparency is earned by completing five questions around an
organization's strategies, progress, and results, known as Charting Impact.
Charting Impact encourages strategic thinking about how an organization intends to achieve its goals.
The end result is a report that lets nonprofits share concise, detailed information about plans
and progress with key stakeholders, including the public.
This data is provided directly by nonprofits to GuideStar via their Nonprofit Profile.

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This impact information is current as of March 2019, when it was provided to us by GuideStar.
At this time, Impact information published on this organization's page has no effect on its rating per our methodology.

Financial Charts

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Programs (FYE 06/2018)

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Program names and associated costs are listed for the top programs as reported on the charity's most recently filed Form 990. The top programs displayed will include the largest three programs, or those programs covering at least 60% of the charity's total expenses, whichever comes first.